Action-gated campaigns are hosted on your Facebook page via a third-party appinstead of as a stand-alone update. These campaigns aren’t for collecting general comments under a status update; they’re for collecting specific demographic or contact information.

Action-gated campaigns require users to complete a specific task in exchange for something valuable from your brand, like access to or extra entries in a promotion, access to a coupon, etc. The user’s task may be filling out a form, uploading content, voting, etc.

Simply asking people to like your page (known as like-gating or fan-gating) to have access to your campaign doesn’t collect data you can use for business planning purposes (as you’ll see in #1 below) or future contact. Likes don’t get you extra content you can use across your other social channels to gain more attention. Action-gating does.

#1: Collect Location Data

Uber and The Honest Company are examples of companies partnering to host an action-gated giveaway. Rather than using a like-gating tactic, they opened entries to anyone, whether that person likes either page or not.

Each business page posted a series of status updates with a link to the entry page. When users clicked the link, they were taken to a form built to require people to share their name, email address, date of birth and zip code in order to enter. (Of course, they could also like the Uber or The Honest Company’s page, but it wasn’t a requirement for entry.)

The Honest Company asks for just enough information to learn a little more about audience.

The collected zip codes allow Uber to identify neighborhoods that could be targets for expansion and gives The Honest Company (which makes natural baby and home-care products) insights into which retail outlets their salespeople should call on.

#2: Gather User-Generated Content

Few companies do a better job of encouraging (and getting) user-generated contentthan GoPro. The fan-submitted videos often get shared and commented on like crazy.

To get customers and fans to share footage they’ve shot using a GoPro camera, the company has an action-gated Facebook campaign called the GoPro Creator’s Challenge.

For a chance to win $5,000 and have their video featured on the GoPro Network, fans have to upload a video entry.

Offer larger prizes to get people to take the time to contribute to a contest.

Shooting and uploading a video is more work than, say, answering a few questions on a survey, but the opportunity to win five grand makes the task worthwhile.

Keep in mind that GoPro doesn’t force users to like their page in order to enter the Creator’s Challenge. They’re assuming that people who genuinely love their brand and products will like the page because they want to.

GoPro’s personal reward comes in the form of high-quality video they can feature on their YouTube channel (which has more than two million subscribers), Twitter, Facebook and other social profiles.

#3: Round Up Potential Leads

Clothing retailer Lulu’s hosts a daily sweepstakes on their Facebook page. Their idea and execution are simple: Ask people to find a product on the Lulu’s website for a chance to win a $50 store credit.

The feedback they get helps them determine what customers want to see more of. The beauty of this simple action-gated campaign is that any brand can do it.

Lulu’s uses a straightforward question that requires a short answer—a tactic that ensures a better response rate.

Also note how Lulu’s asks users for specific feedback—they steer entrants away from general comments. There’s no confusion on the user’s end and the task feels more like a creative break than tackling a homework assignment.

Lulu’s also collects email addresses as part of each entry so they can follow up with people outside of Facebook. This tactic is useful for a company like Lulu’s—or any company, really—because it lets them follow up via a customized email with a special deal.

Over to You

Action-gating offers more flexibility and value than a simple like-gated giveaway or contest. Collecting users’ personal data and feedback is just one way to use action-gating. You can also expand your reach by asking users to tweet about your campaign or share it on Google+ as an entry.

The key to successful Facebook gated campaigns is offering a significant prize that justifies the requirement for entry. The more you’re asking for, the more you have to offer in return.

What do you think? Have you used action-gating in a Facebook campaign? Will you try it in the future? Leave your comments below.